In the west of Switzerland, in May 2023, the Swiss start-up Sun-Ways will install solar panels near the Buttes train station, subject to approval from the Federal Office of Transport.
Developers have been recognizing new potential in unusual surfaces as the climate crisis necessitates an acceleration of Europe’s energy transition.
The Deutsche Bahn in Germany is one of several European nations attempting to test this new system. In fact, solar systems are taking up space on farms, reservoirs, and roadsides. The Netherlands, Germany and Spain are driving the sun powered upset.
With the assistance of EPFL, the federal technology institute in Lausanne, Sun-Ways is the first company to patent a removable system.
As it moves along the track, a specially designed train will periodically unfold the panels. The Swiss company Sun-Ways has developed a mechanical method for installing its removable solar panels. Its headquarters are in the western town of Ecublens.
The one-meter-wide panels that have been pre-assembled at a Swiss factory are unfurled by the specially designed train using a piston mechanism.
Because it would be more difficult to feed the electricity produced by the PV system into railway operations, it will be used to power homes rather than being fed into the power grid.
The 5,317-kilometer railway network in Switzerland could theoretically be covered by panels. The area covered by photovoltaic cells would approximate 760 football fields.
Sun-Ways, the architects, believe that the national rail network could annually generate one Terawatt-hour (TWh) of solar energy, or roughly 2% of Switzerland’s total energy consumption.
The company intends to expand into Germany, Austria, and Italy once its train leaves the station.
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Sun-Ways believes that their system could be installed on 50% of the world’s railways because there are over a million kilometers of railway lines.
However, the company’s pilot project near Buttes still has a lot to prove. The International Union of Railways has expressed concern about the possibility of microcracks in the panels, which could increase the likelihood of fires in green areas and even cause train drivers to be distracted by reflections.
Sun-Ways says its boards are more safe than regular ones and could have an enemy of reflection channel to keep out of train drivers’ eyes.
Brushes attached to the ends of trains could remove dirt from the surface of the panels, and built-in sensors ensure that they function properly.
Sun-Ways has also provided an answer to the concern that ice and snowfall could render the horizontal panels useless. It is dealing with a system to dissolve frozen precipitation.
